Modernizing MRO Planning: How Leading Companies Are Transforming Maintenance Supply Chains

In capital-intensive industries, MRO is the silent enabler of operational continuity, and often the weakest link in the supply chain. A single missing part can halt production, delay repairs, and generate cascading costs. And yet, in sectors like oil & gas, mining, and telecoms, the planning of Maintenance, Repair, and Operations (MRO) materials remains largely fragmented, manual, and reactive.

Interestingly, despite its critical importance, MRO is frequently treated as a procurement function rather than a strategic lever. The consequences are familiar: excess inventory, chronic stockouts, urgent purchases, high logistics costs, and little visibility into whether supply is aligned with maintenance demand.

Leading organizations are starting to change that. By applying digital planning practices to MRO (connecting siloed data, modeling the network, and segmenting inventory by service level) they’re turning a traditionally overlooked area into a source of competitive advantage.

The MRO challenge: complex, fragmented, and costly

Despite its critical role in operational performance, MRO planning is often a weak link in the supply chain. Many organizations still rely heavily on manual processes, spreadsheets, old ERP systems, and fragmented data across maintenance, operations, logistics, and procurement. The result is a planning environment that is not only reactive and inefficient but also costly and risky.

Based on our engagements with several leading global companies, planners on the ground consistently echo the same frustrations. As one put it: “We still use a lot of Excel because the traditional tools we have are not flexible or user-friendly enough.” Without integrated systems, key stakeholders spend excessive time collecting and cleaning data rather than analyzing it. Another common refrain: “Our data lives in silos (in procurement, logistics, maintenance) and we don’t have visibility into the full picture.”

This lack of integration impacts everything from demand forecasting to inventory management. Planners frequently report treating all materials the same way, lacking clear segmentation by item criticality, repairability, or usage pattern. “We treat all materials equally, we don’t have a clear segmentation strategy,” noted one team member, highlighting the absence of intelligent prioritization.

The downstream effects are significant: large volumes of obsolete materials in stock, frequent urgent purchases, and unclear inventory strategies. There are no clear policies on what to stock and how much. These gaps result in inflated working capital and missed opportunities to support maintenance with better responsiveness.

The ripple effect is also operational, with limited visibility because many inventories are spread across field locations. In environments where safety, equipment uptime, and productivity are mission-critical, these limitations often lead to unnecessary risks, downtime, reduced production flows, avoidable costs, and a lack of confidence in the planning process.

How digital leaders are tackling the problem

To overcome these challenges, leading organizations are embracing digital planning platforms that connect siloed data, model the full supply chain, and enable predictive, scenario-based planning.

o9’s Digital Brain platform is designed to bring clarity and control to MRO. By creating a digital twin of the MRO supply chain, companies can simulate scenarios, forecast material demand, and continuously adapt stock policies based on real-world fluctuations. The platform supports item-level service segmentation, integrates master and transactional data, and provides ongoing recommendations on what to buy, when, and in what quantity.

This approach not only improves stock availability and reduces working capital, but also boosts the agility of maintenance and operations teams, ensuring that equipment and resources are available when and where they’re needed most.

Leading oil company: visibility and readiness at scale

One of the largest oil producers in the world faced significant planning challenges due to a siloed approach across offshore platforms and drilling rigs. Their planning tools could not align personnel, vessels, and material deliveries, often resulting in overscheduling and expedited shipments.

With o9, they deployed a unified solution across their upstream operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The system integrated data from aviation, marine, and resource operations to provide 360-degree visibility, enabling activity readiness, ensuring that every maintenance project could proceed only when all equipment and personnel were on site. This led to better planning efficiency, reduced logistics spend, and a lower environmental footprint.

A global telecom player: synchronizing supply and rollout

A major telecommunications provider faced an entirely different, but equally complex, MRO challenge: transitioning thousands of mobile towers from legacy technology to 5G. Each site had a unique configuration with up to 200 components, making it difficult to ensure the right equipment was available at the right time.

Using o9, the company implemented a centralized demand and supply planning system that forecasted component needs based on rollout cadence and historical consumption. The platform enabled accurate inventory allocation and supplier planning, resulting in zero disruptions during deployment. The company increased its site rollout rate from 15,000 to 50,000 per year, improved inventory turns sevenfold, and saved over 130 hours per planner annually.

Now is the time to act

MRO may not always be in the spotlight, but its impact on operations, costs, and service levels is undeniable. As these case studies show, the path to operational excellence lies in digitizing and connecting MRO planning processes. Companies that act now can turn this historically overlooked area into a competitive advantage.

To learn how o9 can help you transform your MRO planning, reach out to our team to schedule a demo.

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